Does It Even Matter?
by Akatsuki's a bang
Summary: A newcomer gets shoved into the Akatsuki's dorm room, and whether they like it or not, the dude can't leave. The dude who is strangely good looking for being a dude...the dude who..."Wait, are you even a dude?" In which the Akatsuki gain a cross-dressing roommate who apparently isn't a dude at all, and have to learn to live with it. Akatsuki College AU OC.
1. Prologue

Their situation was, to say the least, a little unique.

9 men living together in a college dorm? Yeah, that certainly wasn't normal. But to be fair it wasn't just one room and one bathroom for nine men to squish into—because even if they'd been friends for years now they still didn't want to see each other's dicks.

Gross.

No, somehow they'd managed to snag a unique room located on the highest floor of their dorm hall. With one common area and only six rooms that shared it, the set up was unusual and secluded—just what they needed as a gang that literally hated everyone but themselves.

In reality the room was meant for top honors students or some group of prominent and influential kids at their uni, but—with the help of some connections—they'd managed to snag it. And so, for the last three years they'd been living in the dorm together undisturbed—everyone on campus having learned one way or another that the dorm was Akatsuki property until they finally graduated—…but, today it seemed their undisturbed lifestyle finally came to an end.

"What the fuck do you mean some fucker is moving in with us?!" Hidan roared, jumping off the couch in shock. The other males, who'd been scattered throughout their dorm, immediately gathered at hearing the frightening words leave Hidan's mouth.

"Listen man," Kisame tried to defend, having been the one who spoiled the good atmosphere just a moment ago. "I was walking through the lobby a few minutes ago and I saw one of the building managers talking to this one dude who I've never seen before—and they were talking about rooming options and apparently the only room available is ours."

"That's bullshit, yeah," Deidara said with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're _the only room left_? Out of all the dorm halls here? You're shitting me, yeah."

"Actually, they're really tight for space this year," Itachi nonchalantly put in, not seeming too perturbed by the news of the new roommate. "There's been an influx of students this year due to the—"

"I swear to fucking god, Uchiha," Hidan bit, not in the mood for Itachi's wisdom and facts at the moment. Itachi just rolled his eyes.

"All I'm trying to say is that we can't change it," he said. "There really is no other room in this university."

"This fucking sucks," Hidan huffed, kicking the pillow at his feet in rage. Said pillow then barreled across the room, landing right at the feet of the Akatsuki leader.

Well—"leader" was a _bit much._ Pein was just…the most responsible and typically sober one of the group. He also made a lot of the big decisions that pertained to the dorm too, so over time that had earned him the nickname of 'Leader'. However, the other males never called him that seriously…because that would put a dent in their pride, and they didn't want to be considered his bitches anyway.

But back to the point!

"Itachi is right," Pein spoke with a quiet sigh, reaching to pick up the pillow at his feet. "There is no more room on campus this semester, and while I'm sure that many of you aren't happy at the moment, I think we're just going to have to deal with it."

"Oh I'll deal with it," Hidan said, cracking his knuckles threateningly, and across the room his roommate sighed.

"Stop that, you idiot," Kakuzu said, narrowing his eyes at the silver haired male. Hidan glared back.

"Shut up, fucker."

Surprisingly, Kakuzu didn't back down. He really must've been in a bad mood at the news too.

"You wanna fight?"

Hidan barked a laugh, starting angrily towards his roommate.

"I kick your ass, motherfucker!"

"You two—," Sasori started, sighing in exasperation as they grabbed each other by the collar. Their fists were clenched at their sides, ready to strike, and Kisame and Deidara had already stepped forward to drag them apart, but before anything could happen there was a clicking sound. They all quickly realized that is was their door unlocking when, after another second, the door swung open and a male lugging two duffle bags shuffled in.

They all froze, eyes judgingly scanning the male they could only assume was their new roommate up and down. He was about 5'7" with short brown hair that was shaved on the sides and styled on top. In his right ear lobe were two piercings, and he wore gray framed glasses which behind laid a pair of blue eyes that were beautiful enough to surely score him some ladies.

Hidan despised the dude already. He looked like a pretty gay boy. Fuck, he really wanted to kick his ass.

"Oh, hello," the guy suddenly spoke, attracting their attention back to his face. His eyebrows were raised innocently, blinking at them all after realizing that they'd been staring.

"I'm your new roommate," he coughed awkwardly after a moment longer, the Akatsuki's eyes still trailed on him sternly. Hidan was the first to speak.

"Do you know who we are?" he bit out, his voice hard with barely contained disgust at the situation, and the new male titled his head to the side quizzically.

"I don't…am I supposed to? I'm new here…"

"Oh my _god_ ," Hidan groaned, dragging his hands down his face angrily. "They stuck a fucking _freshman_ with _US_?!"

However, before Hidan could go off on a tangent and the others could sigh and regret life, the new guy spoke up again.

"Actually—I'm not a freshman. I'm a transfer student. This is my first semester here."

"Oh yeah?" Hidan scoffed. As if saying he was a transfer student would still erase the fact that he was fresh meat. "Then how fucking old are you then?"

To be honest, the Akatsuki expected him to say 'I'm a sophomore' or 'I'm 19' or something like that, but the minute he said, "I'm a senior. I'm 22," they were kind of taken aback.

22? That meant…he was older than all of them—even Pein.

Well shit, now it was awkward...

Wait, what? Fuck awkwardness! They were the Akatsuki! It didn't matter if he was older than them!

"Well, just so you know," Hidan continued, a devious grin spreading across his face as he locked eyes with the male again. "We're all in a fucking gang buddy, and you're not supposed to be here. So if you're wise, you should take your shit while it's still packed and go and try to arrange somewhere else to live."

The guy frowned. He frowned, but didn't seem shocked. Actually, he seemed a little unimpressed.

"Well, uhh," he spoke, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. He raised his eyebrows and scanned them over with his blue eyes, not seeming perturbed at all. "I don't mean to be here to annoy you or anything, but this was the only place available for me. The room coordinator told me that he tried to find somewhere else for me to be, but that every other room was full—for the guy and the mixed dorms. He even told me that—even though he couldn't put me in the girl's dorms—there was absolutely no room left. So, I apologize for intruding, and I don't want any trouble, but—," his feet moved and he shuffled father into the dorm, heading towards the rooms. However, after a minute he paused, blinking innocently, and turned to face them again.

"Where's my room, by the way?"

"Right here!" Tobi spoke up for the first time, skipping up to the male. The black haired man-child lead their new pest into his empty room, and with a small smile of thanks, the male entered. A few seconds later he emerged again, leaving the dorm completely to go and retrieve the rest of his belongings, and the Akatsuki finally dared to look at each other.

"He…wasn't scared at all, yeah…," Deidara said, seeming shocked. "He seemed sincere towards us…what the fuck?"

"Well," Kakuzu sighed, turning and trudging back towards his and Hidan's shared room. "As long as he stays out of our hair…"

Unable to deny the reality of the situation, many of the others sighed as well and started to move towards their own spaces. There was really nothing they could do to get the male to leave at the moment, so for now they'd just have to deal.

However, as the other 8 Akatsuki males scattered throughout the dorm Pein remained still, his uniquely purple eyes locked on the closed door where their new roommate had just exited. Something…didn't seem right about him. Pein couldn't pinpoint what exactly that 'something' was at the moment…but…

Sighing, Pein shook his head and dragged a hand through his orange hair. Either way, he was sure he'd figure it out eventually…

* * *

Wait….they hadn't even learned his name!

* * *

 **Hello there! It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. (I've been mostly hanging out on AO3 and writing poopy Kpop fanfiction). But I'm back!**

 **A while ago, probably a year at this point, I posted a poll asking my wonderful reader (aka all of you) whether you'd prefer if I wrote "Sleep And Be Killed" or "Does It Even Matter?" Well, "Does It Even Matter" won, but since Sleep and Be Killed was shorter, I wrote that first. Plus, I wanted to wait to write a college AU until I was actually in college. A highschooler writing a college AU with no college experience didn't really make sense...so now here I am!**

 **However, since I am a college student now I can't guarantee how much I'll be able to write (Like I could even guarentee such a thing before. HA!) But please hang in there with me. Some times I have no work and some times I have all of it. But since right now I'm only 3 week into the semester, my work load is still pretty light...**

 **Anyway! This is just the prologue, so it's pretty boring at the moment. It'll get more exciting, I promise.**

 **But, until next time, love you! And:**

 **Please Review!**


	2. Misunderstanding

Ash really didn't know what she'd gotten herself into—but she knew that she'd fucked up already.

When she walked up to the moderately sized dorm building and walked inside, there was a nervous looking man with a clipboard waiting to greet her. He greeted her with a clearly forced smile and opened the door for her, letting her into the secured building since her arms were full and she really didn't want to search through her pockets for her student ID.

"Hey, Ash?" he said, reaching out his hand for a handshake before quickly retracting it awkwardly, realizing that she had no hand available to shake with.

"Yeah, hi," she responded somewhat breathlessly, dropping the two large bags she was carrying onto the worn-out title floor. When she glanced back up to the male he was staring at her with large, scared eyes, and she wasn't quite sure why…

"So, um, uhhh," he started, staring at the clipboard tightly held by his white-knuckled hands. "Since, umm…you signed the dorming contract late, I, uhh—"

"You couldn't find me a room?" Ash assumed, immediately becoming dejected as she let out a long, frustrated sigh, but the male quickly held his hands up.

"What? No! I found you a room—"

"Oh, thank god—"

"—but…you probably won't like it…"

Immediately Ash's increasing hope died, and she narrowed her eyes at the already nervous man, just wondering what the hell he meant by that.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, ummm…since you signed up late there weren't many open spaces left, so I ended up putting you with the Aka—I mean…a group of guys that really don't like other people."

Wait…a group of guys? But she was—

"Sorry man, I really wish there was another option! I really do. But the mixed dorms are full and even if I could put you in the girl dorms—which I can't—there's no room there either. We're so tight for space and I wish I could help you out but—"

"Hey," Ash interrupted him, putting on the widest and fakest smile she could muster. "It's alright—don't' worry about it."

…but it wasn't alright—and she was worried about it. Because she WAS NOT A MALE. God, she wanted to punch herself! When she'd visited the housing department a few weeks ago she'd been dressed up in somewhat guy-ish fashion, yes, but on the paper work it said 'Ashley'! She was a girl dammit! How was she supposed to live with another dude?! Shit, he probably didn't even know that she was a—

"Wait…," she suddenly spoke, interrupting the male in front of her who had started rambling again. "Not just one guy? A _group,_ you said?"

"Uhh, yeah," the male sighed, rubbing his head apologetically. "There's a special area on the 4th floor that houses a total of 10 people who share one common living space. The only room left is in that area…with all of _them_."

"There's…no other room? Anywhere?" Ash clarified again, praying, and the male shook his head.

"No…this is it. I'm sorry."

Ash sighed. She wanted to punch something. How could this have happened? God, she should've remembered to dress like a girl when she was first meeting people! Dammit! But…she was stuck. There's was nothing that could be done…and if she didn't deal…then there was no other place for her to live.

So, she would deal.

"Whatever," she finally gave in, not happy but not letting it show too much. "I'll survive. Can I have my key and stuff?"

"Oh—uhh—yeah!"

Hurriedly the guy fished in his pockets for the items she had requested and a couple seconds later he finally retracted a silver key and handed it to her. His palm was sweaty against hers and Ash tried her hardest not to frown at the gross sensation. The last thing she needed was for the guy to start freaking out again…

"So, am I good to go?" she asked, slipping the new key onto her keyring, and the guy blinked in surprise.

"I mean, yeah, but—"

"Cool," she interrupted, hefting her bags up again, and then without another word she walked past him and slipped into the closing elevator doors. Once the doors had shut she let out a long sigh and lightly banged the back of her head against the elevator wall.

This sucked. This sucked _really big cock_. Fuck—she really needed to make a mental note: don't meet people for the first time dressed as a guy.

She glanced down at herself. Well—it was too late to change now. And besides, she highly doubted that the "gang" she was moving in with would take kindly to her being a girl anyway…so maybe it was for the best that she had dressed as a male today.

But then again she was sure they'd hate her whether she was a guy or a girl so…

"FUCK," she yelled quietly, frustrated, and then gathered her wits when the elevator stopped on the fourth floor, marking her arrival at hell. By the time the two metal doors had slid open, she'd composed herself. So what if they hated her? So what if she wasn't really a dude? She'd make it work, goddammit. She'd been in worse situations before—this one was totally manageable!

"Alright," Ash breathed. She could do this. Hell yeah.

So, with newfound confidence and serenity, Ash stepped out of the elevator and started up the hall. Eventually she came face to face with a white door that had a red and black "BEWARE" sign on it, and rolled her eyes.

Honestly, the sign made them _less_ scary.

Sighing again, Ash stuck her new key into the door and braced herself when it opened with a click. Slowly she slid the door open, puzzled by the silence that greeted her, and then stopped in surprise when she spotted a large group of males gathered on the other end of the room.

There was a buff male with slicked back silver hair holding tightly onto a tanned, broad-shouldered male with shaggy brown hair. Next to the tan man was an even taller, blue haired male, and beside said blue haired male was a fairly regular looking male with shoulder length black hair. On the other side, near the silver haired guy, was a blue eyed male with long blond hair, and beside him was another male of the same stature, but with frizzy red hair and light brown eyes. Then, finally, near the back, there was a male with black, spiky hair and an eyepatch, a worrisome looking male with dyed green hair and…was that a tattoo that took up half of his body? Either way—the final male had with orange hair, an array of piercings, and stern purple eyes that were boring right into her soul.

…Ash wasn't quite sure what to think of them all just yet.

"Um, hello," she spoke after a moment, feeling awkward under their unwavering stares. "I'm your new roommate."

That seemed to snap them out of it.

"Do you know who we are?" the silver haired one bit out, practically snarling at her, and Ash blinked.

"I don't...—," well that was a lie, but she might as well play it cool, right? "—am I supposed to? I'm new here…"

"Oh my _god_ ," he groaned, and Ash wanted to roll her eyes at his whininess. What was he—two? It's not like she wanted to be in this situation either, dumbass! "They stuck a fucking freshman with _us_?!"

"Actually, I'm not a freshman," Ash quickly cut in, a little peeved beneath the surface. "I'm a transfer student. This is my first semester here."

"Oh yeah?" the male scoffed, clearly not caring either way because they were superior to her—or at least that's what they believe but she really wanted to kick them down a notch. "Then how fucking old are you then?"

"I'm a senior," Ash answered, basking in the moment their faces all contorted in shock. "I'm 22."

…they were silent. Ash silently cheered in victory.

"Well, just so you know," mister silver-hair spoke up again, trying to regain his cool, and Ash _really_ wanted to roll her eyes. She was beginning to form the belief that he was a narcissist. "We're all in a fucking gang buddy, and you're not supposed to be here. So if you're wise, you should take your shit while it's still packed and go and try to arrange somewhere else to live."

Oh, Ash really wished that was an option.

"Well, uhh," she spoke calmly, trying not to burst their bubble—though she was pretty sure that it had already burst. "I don't mean to be here to annoy you or anything, but this was the only place available for me. The room coordinator told me that he tried to find somewhere else for me to be, but that every other room was full—for the guy and the mixed dorms. He even told me that—even though he couldn't put me in the girl's dorms—there was absolutely no room left. So, I apologize for intruding, and I don't want any trouble, but…"

Sighing quietly, she ducked down and grabbed her bags again, just wanting to get this whole awkward move-in situation over with, but then paused when she realized that she had no idea what room she was living in.

"Where's my room, by the way?" she questioned sincerely, turning back to face them, and immediately the male with the eyepatch jumped forward.

"Right here!" he yelled, zooming past her and motioning into an open door nearby, and Ash smiled at him kindly. He didn't seem too bad…unlike silver haired guy…

"Thanks," she said quietly as she entered the space, and the male beamed a smile at her. After entering, Ash set her bags down before turning and immediately making a b-line for the front door. She had more things she needed to move…and she highly doubted that her new roommates planned on helping her out.

Whether they knew that she was a girl or not—she doubted that they'd ever get along.

* * *

 **So. We meet again.**

 **This is like the prologue...but from Ash's perspective. Big surprise.**

 **Also, I suppose I should mention right off the bat that this story will be M-rated...at some point. I might have to change it soon to be honest...with that "really big cock" line and all...**

 **But yeah! This is a story involving college kids...and if you think that college age people are t-rated then you have another thing coming...that's all I'll say on the matter for now though. I don't want to spoil anything I have in mind.**

 **Anyway! Since this chapter is short I managed to type it up relatively fast! From now on the chapters will likely be longer.**

 **Damn, I'm tired. It's not even 8 yet...**

 **College life, I suppose.**

 **Ugh, I have Japanese homework I need to do...I have to write an essay in Japanese too...**

 **I should do that before I pass out.**

 **See you.**

 **Please Review!**


	3. Ash(ley)

Every time Ash exited her room and daringly stepped out into the shared living space, immediately multiple pairs of eyes became glued to her, watching her every move quite bluntly—at least in her opinion. So, she hurried into the kitchen, refilled her water bottle in the kitchen sink, and then casually retreated back into her room before the silver haired guy could even think to speak a rude word to her—like he'd been doing for the last few hours now…

But Hidan wanted this bastard to _leave_! He was ruining their whole setup, dammit! Sure, Hidan got in fights with Kakuzu and argued with the artist dickheads all the, but it was welcomed! This new shithead, however, was most certainly not welcomed. Hidan didn't give a fuck if he was nice or what he looked like, he was public enemy number one.

The other guys, thankfully, were taking Ash's addition a bit better. Of course they weren't happy about it—but unlike Hidan they weren't spending every moment of the day wondering how to get rid of him. Instead they were simply observing him, trying to get a gauge of what he was like.

...but considering that the dude only came out of his room once every two hours, that was a pretty hard thing to do. Then again, it was hard to get to know someone in just a few hours, and by solely observing them too…

Whatever—this sucked.

"Hey," Deidara suddenly spoke, poking his head into his and Sasori's shared room. Said red head was lounging on his bed, a book in his hand.

"What?"

"What bathroom is this dude gonna use, hmm?" Deidara questioned sincerely, rolling his eyes when from the background Hidan yelled, "Neither! Let him find his own fucking place to piss!"

Sighing, Sasori dog-eared the page he was on and rolled himself into a seated position on the edge of his mattress. He glared at Deidara lightly, and getting his drift the blond quickly held up his hands and turned on his heel, swaggering away from the doorway.

"You ask him, yeah," he said. "You're better at being blunt than I am."

"Bullshit," Sasori scoffed, slowly easing onto his feet. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and then with an agitated sigh padded out of the comfort of his room. He passed through the living room effortlessly and paused when he came face to face with a closed, unmarked white door.

Three solid rasps of his fist against the wood followed by ten seconds of waiting, and then the door finally creaked open. His bored auburn eyes locked with Ash's curious blue ones for a few seconds before finally the door opened fully.

"What's up?" Ash questioned casually, and Sasori silently noted that their eye-levels were exactly the same.

"Are you a neat person, or not?" he questioned plainly, crossing his arms, and Ash raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I mean," she started, unsure what to say, and instead stepped back and let him glance into her newly organized room. Unable to help his curiosity, Sasori peeked inside. On her bed was a folded, plain black bedspread with blue sheets underneath. At the end of her bed was her desk—it was currently littered with different types of school supplies, but it wasn't too bad. And from the looks of it it seemed that her closet was in order too, so…

"I see," he said, having gotten an idea of her cleanliness. He met her eyes again and then nodded his head over his shoulder before turning on his heel and treading away. Confused, Ash hesitated for a moment before following after him.

"Here," Sasori spoke after stopping in front of an open door, and Ash peaked inside. It was a bathroom. "This is the bathroom you can use from now on. There are only two bathrooms in this entire area, so we've divided it by the neat and dirty residents—this is the neat one, so be grateful."

"Oh," Ash said, peeking her head into the clearly clean bathroom as Sasori leisurely scratched his head and strolled away from her. "Thanks."

"Yeah," he said in response, waving his hand nonchalantly, and Ash was tempted to roll her eyes. At least he'd been somewhat polite when speaking to her—she appreciated it. But—

"Oi, faggot!" Hidan suddenly shouted, and without having to turn around and look for him Ash already knew that he was addressing her. So, sighing in mostly-contained anger, she turned and padded back to her room, ignoring Hidan's calls and silently thanking whoever she heard say, "Hidan, stop," before her door clicked shut.

* * *

At least she knew his name now.

 _Hidan._

* * *

"You have been _way_ too pissed today, yeah," Deidara said, hopping over the back of the couch and landing on the cushion a few inches from Hidan. The silver haired male was still sulking, an Xbox controller angrily held in his hands.

"It's that fuckers fault," Hidan grumbled, and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"C'mon," he said, grabbing the Xbox controller out of Hidan's hand and exiting to the main menu. Hidan screamed at him in protest but, used to his loud volume, Deidara ignored him and chose another game to play. He picked a first person shooter that he knew Hidan would get pissed at—but that helped the silver haired male relieve his internalized anger, so it worked out.

"Who the fuck is this?" Hidan said, motioning angrily towards the television screen. There was a new gamertag amongst the ones they were used to seeing: _AssAndAsh_.

Deidara shrugged, unbothered. "Probably a new guy who moved in, yeah."

"I'm gonna kick his ass," Hidan said, growling, and then the game commenced. The round was 10 minutes long, and the goal was to have the most kills. Within the first two minutes Deidara had already killed 4 men, and Hidan had managed 6. Grinning happily, feeling his impending win, Hidan chanced a glance to the scoreboard in the upper corner and blinked in shock when he saw that he was in second, not first.

"FUCK! It's that damn AssAndAsh dude!" Hidan cursed, pissed, and immediately changed his mental objective, moving his in-game character to look for the male who was currently stealing his rightful title. He found the guy after a minute and immediately started shooting at him. AssAndAsh, however, dodged after the first few bullets made contact.

"You're not getting away!" Hidan growled, chasing after him, but when he moved into the corridor the guy had just fled down and grenade was lobbed down the hall and he died immediately.

"Fucking goddammit!" he cursed, quickly averting his attention to the scoreboard where he saw a +1 appear next to AssAndAsh's name. That _motherfucker!_

Beside the raging Jashinist, Deidara remained silent, not all too concerned if he was losing the game. Sure, he liked to win, but at the moment he was more concerned that Hidan would explode with rage and he'd have to run for cover…

Though, Deidara did have to admit—whoever this AssAndAsh guy was, he was pretty damn good.

Finally, after ten minutes, the first round ended and, of course, AssAndAsh was the overall victor. Sighing, Deidara chanced a look over at Hidan to find the Jashinist's typically pale face red with furry.

"Uhh…"

"One more round," he bit out, pressing a button on the controller, and then their characters dropped into another map. AssAndAsh was, of course, still in the game with them.

"I'll kill you this time motherfucker!" Hidan vowed, but before he could even move his character AssAndAsh was suddenly on him, stabbing his character in the neck and ending his life. There was a moment of stunned silence between Deidara and Hidan before Hidan chucked his controller across the room.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in frustration, rolling off the couch, and while Deidara attempted to hold back his shocked laughter he swore he heard someone else laughing from somewhere…

Frowning, he looked over to the closed door of their new roommate. He hadn't heard the male laugh yet at all but he was pretty sure that was him…why was he cracking up so hard?

Unwilling to give up, Hidan retrieved his battered controller and resumed the game, but when the match ended and he was in second place once more, he exploded again.

"Umm, maybe we should take a break, yeah?" Deidara suggested, setting his controller down and scooting away for precautionary reasons, but luckily before Hidan could argue differently Pein walked in through the front door. In his hands were 10 sealed envelopes.

"Schedules are in," he declared, and, like a beacon, all of the other Akatsuki males stopped what they were doing and gathered in the living room. Then, as a school teacher would do, Pein started to hand the envelopes out.

"Sasori," he called, and the red head stepped forward.

"Kisame…Deidara—"

The list continued on and on until, finally, there were only two letters left in Pein's hands. One for himself, and one for…

"Ash…?" he hesitated, his brow furrowing, and before he could speak more a door suddenly clicked open, and their new roommate rushed out.

"That's me!" Ash declared, quickly moving to take the letter from Pein, but as she did Pein's purple eyes met her blue one in a harsh, calculating stare, and Ash didn't look away. Her eyes were light, honest—and, with a quite sigh, Pein relinquished the letter and let her go. No one seemed to notice his out of the ordinary reaction, especially Deidara and Hidan, who were now putting together some key pieces of information in their heads.

"Wait," Deidara started. "… _Ash?_ "

"Like…AssAndAsh?" Hidan continued, anger building up in his chest once again as he watched the back of their retreating roommate. Once Ash had reached her door she glanced over her shoulder and flashed the two a knowing grin.

"Good game, you two," she said with a wink and then entered her room, silently closing the door behind her. The two Akatsuki members remained standing in shocked silence until Kisame's hearty laughter filled the area.

"Well, I'll be damned!" he said, having seen the battle that had been going on in Hidan and Deidara's game earlier, and Deidara was wise enough to know to hold Hidan back before the Jashinist could charge after the new male and end his life for real.

* * *

"I'm gonna kill that asshole," Hidan exclaimed later on, causing the others around him to roll their eyes. He sure knew how to hold a grudge—and on the stupidest things as well.

"Are you really still mad about that game earlier?" Kisame asked. The blue-haired male was sprawled on the couch, a Nintendo DS in his grasp.

Ignoring him, Hidan continued rambling on about his plan for vengeance.

"I swear I'm gonna go in there and cut his dick of in his sleep," the Jashinist said, promise held in his words, "See how that pretty boy will fuck a girl now."

It was in that moment that the Akatsuki leader stepped into the room. The orange haired male had just exited the kitchen, having overheard Hidan's words, and there was a fresh can of beer in his grasp.

"Well," he put in, surprising those who were in the room. He clicked open the tab on the can with one finger and took a long swig before continuing. "I'm sure you could do such a thing…but you might not find what you'd expect."

And with that, the Akatsuki leader disappeared into his room, leaving a confused group of males in his wake.

"What the fuck does that mean, yeah?" Deidara questioned, completely befuddled, and Kisame shrugged, resuming his game.

"Who knows? I guess Pein likes to talk in riddles now. Though, Hidan…you really shouldn't try and cut of his dick."

"JUST WATCH ME, MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Hidan—"

As another verbal battle started up in the living room, from behind his closed bedroom door Pein released a sigh and plopped down in his desk chair. A memory from early flashed through his mind, and he rubbed his temples.

Ash… _Ashley._ God, it all made so much sense now. The reason why, when they'd met earlier that day, he'd felt off about Ash is because she was actually a _female_. The feminine features he'd picked up on were actually female features—not just his mind playing tricks on him.

What the hell was she doing, living in their dorm like this? How the hell had the dorming staff even messed up something like this? Clearly she was—well…she was a girl, but she was dressed like a guy, so…

God, this was just all so confusing.

Pein took another long swing of his beer.

He wasn't sure what Ash was planning to do about this situation…but for now, he'd just leave it alone. What could he really do about it anyway?

* * *

Itachi had a routine. He woke up every day at 7 AM. Whether it was the middle of the summer or a morning where he didn't have classes until noon he'd wake up at 7. So, when the clock on his nightstand clicked over from 6:59 to 7:00 on the dot, his eyelids popped open and he got up.

First, he stretched his arms above his head, waiting until all the kinks in his back had popped, and then, without bothering to put on a shirt, he silently exited his and Kisame's shared room and made his way into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Itachi was always the first one up, so therefore he was also always the one to start coffee for the others, and—

Wait…he smelled coffee…

Confused, Itachi padded into the kitchen and paused when he spotted Ash sitting at the kitchen table. His hair was unkempt and shaggy—quite flat without any product in, and he was dressed in a gray wifebeater and a pair of black, baggy sweats. From this angle, Itachi honestly couldn't help but notice how…feminine Ash looked—especially when he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"Oh, uh, sorry!"

Itachi blinked out of his trance to find Ash staring at him, looking a little flustered. The male was quickly reaching for the half-full coffee cup that was resting on the table in front of him, but before he could get too far Itachi calmly spoke up.

"There's no need to rush," he said, calmly looking the male over. Their new roommate seemed surprised to hear such words come from his mouth.

"But… I thought you all wished of me to stay out of your way?"

"That is the wish of most of the others," Itachi replied and then nonchalantly walked over to the coffee pot, finding it internally strange that it was already brewed, since that was his job typically.

"I am…not sorely bothered by your rooming with us and don't plan on shunning you from appearing. There are others less happy about this situation than I, but clearly you didn't impose yourself upon us out of you own free will, so I'm will to compromise," Itachi explained, reaching for the mug he always used on the highest self, and Ash stared at him in honest shock.

This was unexpected…both his toned, shirtless torso _and_ his response…but Ash supposed she could dwell on the first thought later.

"I see," she finally managed to respond, not sure what to say, but Itachi had never expected her to say anything in the first place. So, as the Uchiha prepared his coffee, Ash turned her attention back to the sheet she'd been analyzing before.

Out of habit, Itachi watched him. His fingers kept lightly skimming the edge of the paper, and Itachi couldn't help but notice how slender and smooth his fingers were. Also—

"Hey," Ash's voice suddenly interrupted, and Itachi blinked up to meet her blue eyes. "Sorry, but…do you know where I can sign up for clubs, or community teams?"

Itachi blinked, surprised by her question. Nonetheless, he stepped up to the table and eyed the paper she'd been looking at. It was a map of the campus grounds.

"Here," he said, placing his finger on the REC building. "It's the building right across from the mixed dorms. There's a bulletin board right inside the front doors that should have any information on it that you may want."

"Oh, awesome," Ash exclaimed and then flashed Itachi a sincere smile that completely caught him off guard. Itachi hadn't seen the male make a happy face since he'd gotten here…

"Thanks, um…"

"Itachi."

"Thanks Itachi," Ash continued sincerely, and then with that she stood from her chair and disappeared back into her room. Itachi stared after her, confused for some reason even he didn't' understand, but decided to try and forget the feeling when he remember that his coffee was getting cold.

* * *

A few hours later Kisame finally crawled out from their shared room, yawning tiredly and ruffling his messy blue hair, and Itachi stared at him from the couch.

"Are we going running or not?" he asked patiently, and blinking in surprise, Kisame turned his attention to the Uchiha. He was already dressed in a tight fitting shirt and a pair or sweat pants.

"Shit, yeah," Kisame said, noticing that the clock said 10:28, and hurriedly returned to their room. Every day—or at least every day where their schedules allowed them, the two ran together—and today they had planned to leave at 10:30 but Kisame had slept in way more than he'd expected.

…most likely because he'd gone out drinking with Hidan to calm the Jashinist down finally. Luckily he didn't have a hangover—god bless his high tolerance.

"Ready?" Itachi questioned when he appeared in the living room again a few minutes later. The blue haired male nodded, and the two left. When they stepped out of their dorm hall the bright day greeted them, and they took off.

The campus in itself wasn't too large, a 15 minute trek from end to end, so Kisame and Itachi diverted to the outside perimeter and began their routine. With the moderately fast pace they had set for themselves the two rounded a corner of the perimeter every 7 minutes, and after making it 3/4 of the way across campus the two detoured inbound and headed towards the small lake at the campus's center.

They rounded it, panting with effort and exhaustion, sweat staining their brows and drenching their shirts, but neither seemed to mind. Kisame didn't mind because when he started to get sweaty it caused his shirt to outline his muscled physique and attracted nearby female's attention, and Itachi…honestly just didn't mind because he really didn't care.

After rounding the pond, as if on cue, the two's pace started to slow down. Their breaths came out in pants as the cooled-off, circling around the Recreational Gym and beginning to head back towards their dorm, but just as they passed by the entrance to the large building something—or, rather someone—caught Itachi's attention.

He wasn't sure why his eyes were drawn to the two girls standing outside the gyms entrance…he could identify one as a captain to a female community volleyball team, but the other…shit, she looked so familiar.

Short brown hair that was styled on the top, bright blue eyes, a kind smile…oh shit.

His heart thrumming in realization, Itachi's pace slowed until he was barely moving, staring at Ash from afar with wide, shocked onyx eyes.

He was… _she_ was a girl. Fuck, no wonder he'd thought she'd looked so feminine for the last two days! It was because she was actually a girl; not because he was crazy!

…why the hell was she rooming with them?

"Hey, Itachi, you alright man?"

Kisame, confused as to why Itachi had fallen behind, jogged back to Itachi and shook him by the shoulder. Immediately the Uchiha snapped out of his trance, smacking Kisame's hand away on instinct. Immediately the blue haired male started to pout, nursing his hand, and Itachi rolls his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, and then patted Kisame on the back, ushering him away from the gym before he could turn to discover what Itachi just had. Why, you ask? Well…Itachi liked to think that he wasn't a complete asshole. If Ash hadn't told them there must've been a reason…right? There were tons of possibilities flying through Itachi's head as to why her situation living with them was as it was…but since he didn't have the answers that he wanted, for now he decided to silence his mind.

He would ask her later.

* * *

 **Hey!**

 **So first let me say that I'm sorry for constantly switching between he/her pronouns with Ash. I only do that because the guys (or most of them, considering Itachi and Pein) still think that she's a boy. Once they all realize she's a girl I'll keep the "she" pronoun for good. But Ash will get into more info on herself later...so I'll leave it at that.**

 **Anyway! Thank you all for your patience! A lot of you reviewed and reassured me you'd wait patiently since I'm a college student now, and I appreciate it. I've had a lot of shit to do lately, so I'm grateful for your patience. Once the bright side, this weekend I finally got a break and went up north! It was honestly a good time. Since I live in Michigan and the MSU vs U of M game was this weekend, it was intense up there. Lot's of drinking, lot's of yelling, but it was amazing. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE MSU WON THE GAME IN THE LAST 7 SECONDS. #BLEEDGREEN.**

 **...I'm usually not into football, and I don't got to MSU, but my dad did and I honestly just like MSU better, so I root for them. Plus my uni's colors are the same as State's so that's convenient lmao. But...then U of M is only a 20 minute drive from me, and I go there a lot, so...Meh, still as state fan.**

 **Also! Won a drinking game while I was up north! :D I probably shouldn't be proud, but I am. I beat out the other 8 people playing, and it was an intense game, so...(The game is called "Chandeliers" if you wanna look it up).**

 **And...that's it. College, homework, youtube, kpop...  
**

 **BTS IS HAVING A COMEBACK, LIKE, NEXT WEEK. I'M SO FUCKING PUMPED. They are my eternal biases. Rapmon is literally my phone background...**

 **Ahem...anyway...have a good week! Good luck with classes/work/whatever it is you're doing!**

 **Please Review!**


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